Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the pleasure to present, in both official languages, two reports to the House this morning.

The first is the report of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association respecting its parliamentary mission to the next two countries that will hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union held in the Hague, Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and its participation in the second part of the 2015 ordinary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe held in Strasbourg, France, from April 13 to 24, 2015.

The second is the report of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association respecting its participation in the fourth Northern Dimension Parliamentary Forum and the meeting of the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region held in Reykjavik, Iceland, from May 10 to 12, 2015.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present, in both official languages, the seventh report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, entitled “Promoting Economic Prosperity Through Settlement Services”.

Mr. Speaker, the NDP would like to present a supplementary report to the report just tabled by my colleague, and for three reasons.

We do not necessarily disagree with what is in that report; however, we believe that there were some important points from the study that were not included in the report.

Witnesses spoke to the committee specifically about the need for accessible and affordable child care for families all across Canada, and that needs to mentioned. The importance of recognizing foreign credentials for newcomers was also highlighted. Lastly, of course, the eligibility criteria for integration services need to be reviewed, given that we were told that many women and newcomers cannot access those services.

These things are very important to the NDP, which is why we wanted to emphasize them in a supplementary report.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to introduce my first private member's bill in this 41st Parliament. The bill is an important piece of the puzzle to ensure we have fairness with respect to temporary escorted absences for those in the care of Correctional Service Canada. It is past time that we had a discussion on what precisely is good reason to grant those serving prison sentences temporary escorted absences.

My bill would amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act in a way that would modify the list of reasons why temporary escorted absences from prison are justified and granted.

Several years ago, our community was victimized by a convicted criminal who escaped from custody. The heartbreak that resulted should never happen again.

The bill applies specifically to high-risk offenders, as they are obviously most at risk of causing problems while away from prison. It would focus specifically on offenders classified in section 17 of the act.

Mr. Speaker, I am introducing this private member's bill today to add the Koksilah and Nanaimo rivers to the Navigation Protection Act, because rivers on Vancouver Island are in trouble. Like most rivers on the west coast of North America, our rivers are suffering from drought conditions. A smaller than normal snowpack this winter meant very little spring freshets that feed these rivers.

The Koksilah River was once known for its run of steelhead, but overfishing in the 1980s nearly extirpated them from the river. Now impacts from logging, agriculture, and low summer flows continue to endanger its recovery. Along with the Cowichan River, the Koksilah drains into the Cowichan estuary, an important intertidal area that hosts migratory waterfowl, abundant eel grass beds, and the occasional otter. If summer flows are too low, the spawning salmon must be captured in Cowichan Bay and transported upriver to their spawning beds.

The Nanaimo River flows 78 km from its headwater on Mount Hooper to the Strait of Georgia. While it is celebrated as a great recreational river, it also provides drinking water to 86,000 residents. However, the surface water is only part of the story. The Cassidy aquifers are near the terminal end of the river. While the river recharges the aquifers during the high spring flows, the opposite happens in the late fall when the cool groundwater from the aquifers helps recharge the river, providing ideal conditions for salmon runs.

Sadly, there is no federal protection for either of these rivers, even though they both provide fish habitat for the west coast's iconic salmon. That is why I propose that these two rivers should be added to the list of those protected by federal legislation under the Navigation Protection Act.

Mr. Speaker, I am usually honoured to present petitions. However, the petitions I present today sadly inform the House that the number one cause of criminal death in Canada is vehicular homicide. About 1,200 to 1,500 Canadians are killed every year by drunk drivers, people who decide to drive a vehicle while they are drunk.

Families for Justice is a group of Canadians who have had loved ones killed by an impaired driver. The petitioners believe that Canada's impaired driving laws are much too lenient. They want the crime to be called what it is, vehicular homicide. They are also calling upon Parliament to introduce mandatory sentences for vehicular homicide, which this Parliament has just done.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is signed by people who suffered as a result of the Lac-Mégantic train derailment and its horrible after-effects. They are calling on the government to launch a public inquiry into the derailment of that train, which took 47 lives.

The first petition is signed by over 150 people from my riding who support the initiative the NDP presented to Parliament to end violence against women, specifically by calling an inquiry into the murdered and missing aboriginal women.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition was put together by a very active citizen in Pointe-de-l'Île. The petition calls for a regulatory change with regard to the application of the metric system.

We know that 94% of the world's population uses the international metric system and it is the only system that has been taught in our schools for over 35 years now. Canada should therefore drop any reference to any system other than the metric system in ads, on signs, and on packaging. The petitioners are also calling for containers to be standardized to the metric system in units of 100 grams or 100 millilitres.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition that contains hundreds of names from my riding of Cardigan, Prince Edward Island. It was put together by the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, which asks the government to adopt international aid policies that support small farmers, especially women, and also ensure that Canadian policies and programs are developed in consultation with small farmers and that they protect the rights of small family farmers in the global south to preserve, use, and freely exchange seeds.

The first petition involves Mr. Seyamak Naderi, a political prisoner who was jailed, tortured, and isolated from his family for more than 34 years in Iran and who is currently living in Albania as a refugee claimant in urgent need of care. I am told that Mr. Seyamak Naderi is in danger of being executed if he returns to Iran.

The petitioners call upon the House, the Government of Canada, and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to do everything within their power to expedite the recognition of Seyamak Naderi as a convention refugee and to reunite Saeideh Naderi with her brother as soon as possible.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition notes that in 2012 the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child raised concerns about the excessive amount of stimulants being prescribed to Canadian children. There has been a skyrocketing of psychotropic drug prescriptions for children and adolescents. Nearly 50% of children and youth in foster and group home care, age 5 to 10, have been prescribed drugs such as Ritalin and tranquillizers. The petitioners request that Parliament respond to this grave concern, conduct a national investigation into the use of psychotropic drugs among children, and enact legislation that increases the rights of school children, children under the Crown, and children in foster care to refuse psychotropic drugs.

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition on behalf of my constituents in Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, who are calling on the government to stop reducing Canada Post postal services because up to 8,000 well-paid jobs could be lost. Eliminating home delivery and reducing hours of service in rural areas will have an adverse effect on our people and the local economy.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition calls for the removal of the infamous Kathryn Spirit, the ship that has been lying on the shores of Beauharnois since 2011 and could well pollute Lake Saint-Louis, the drinking water reservoir of Beauharnois and the greater Montreal area. The petitioners want the Government of Canada to ensure that the boat is safely towed out of those waters as soon as possible.

Mr. Speaker, the third petition calls on the Government of Canada to reject Canada Post's plan to reduce postal service and continue to provide an essential, basic public service. The petitioners want to protect this public service and the jobs and ensure that people can get their mail.

Mr. Speaker, the fourth and last petition seeks to defend a public asset. It concerns the CBC and its future. The federal government is being asked to guarantee stable, adequate, multi-year funding for our broadcaster in order to maintain high-quality regional news.

With regard to property No. 06872 in the Directory of Federal Real Property (DFRP), also known as the Old St-Maurice Firing Range, what is the decontamination plan for this site, which is located in Terrebonne, Quebec?

James BezanConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence

Mr. Speaker, the Department of National Defence will remediate the Champ de tir-Saint-Maurice site in accordance with the Treasury Board of Canada policy on management of real property. The decontamination plan will be in line with the intended future use of the site when it is determined.

With regard to future construction projects for national Correctional Service facilities: are there any plans to build new penitentiaries for the province of Quebec, more specifically in the constituency of Pontiac, and, if so, what phase are these projects at now?